Powder Keg Hearts
by HecateA
Summary: There's pros and cons to having a child as easy to read as Seamus (arson being the largest inconvenience). Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Criminology, Task #4 : Arson, Write about setting something on fire, be it on purpose or accidental.

**Warnings: **Uncontrolled fires

* * *

**Stacked with: **Summer Bingo; Shipping War; MC4A; Flouting Regulations; Sky's the Limit; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **More Than England; Gryffindor MC (x2); Golden Times; Fire Time; Summer Vacation; Unaccompanied Minors; Seeds; Shipmas; Old Shoes; Themes and Things A (New Beginnings); Themes and Things B (Reunion); Trop It Up C; Ethnic and Present; Tiny Terror; Flags and Ribbons; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s):** Boom Boys

**Bonus challenge(s): **Brooms Only; Second Verse (Spinning Plates); Chorus (Mouth of Babes)

**Tertiary bonus challenge(s):** Satisfaction

**Word count: **852

* * *

_**Summer Bingo entry information:**_

**Space Address: **3B

**Prompt: **Explosion

* * *

_**Shipping War**_

**Ship (Team):** Dean Thomas/Seamus Finnigan (Boom Boys)

**List (Prompt):** Summer Big List (Vacation)

* * *

**Powder Keg Heart**

Moira Finnigan had often debated the pros and cons of telling her poor Muggle fiancé that she was a witch. It had, in fact, been a bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out.

For quite some time, Moira had been sure that he would leave her—_that _was how flabbergasted and shocked he'd been. They'd spent many days circling around each other in their flat, eyeing one another and waiting for the inevitable. But once John had started asking questions about the world of witches and wizards that had been right under his nose the whole time, once he had started seeing magic around the house a little more frequently, it had been less scary. Not so bad. And so the wedding had gone on as planned, they had honeymooned in Greece like they'd always dreamed, and marital bliss had ensued. And then, once the baby came along, the deal was sealed. They were in it for the long run, head over heels, petals to the metal.

It was also the baby that had made it abundantly clear that it really _had _been necessary to tell her husband about magic, no matter what her mother or all those _Witches Weekly _advice columns said. Not right away, of course—like _Parenting for Warlocks Today _said, children were no younger than three when those volatile signs of underage magic began manifesting themselves. And Seamus in particular was… well, a little difficult to hide.

Lightbulbs were particularly frequent targets; they'd shatter when Seamus woke up from a nightmare screaming. Flower vases were next in line, as were wine bottles, glasses, mugs…

They had just baby-proofed their home to adapt to this new trend when the fires started.

"He wouldn't be a complete pyrotechnic without them," John had nodded wisely. "Really, this all checks out."

He'd gone to the hardware store to buy fire extinguishers for each room in the house, and they bought out Cork's stock of fire retardant varnish. Moira was Confounding the local fire department three times a week, and she'd set flame resistant charms to all their clothes and valuables.

Luckily, Seamus was getting older as the pyrotechnics got more and more spectacular. That meant that Moira could talk him down, ask him to take deep breaths, help him manage his emotions. He was a sweet, soft child who did his best—but all children felt things in big and bold. He felt awful whenever he got worked up to the point of setting a blaze or shooting off a spark.

"Seamus," Moira said kneeling in front of him one day, after they'd just put out the trash can in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," he sniffled. "I didn't want to make it be on fire."

"Seamus, baby, I know this isn't your fault, but you have to be careful," Moira said. "If you feel something, you have to do your best to keep it in your chest and in your heart. We have to be careful that it comes out with words when you tell us things, not with magic.."

"Sometimes I just feel a lot of things," Seamus said apologetically.

"And that's good, baby. We want you to feel lots of things, that's how you become one with the world and fall in love. We just have to make sure we feel things safely," Moira said. "You'll see, once you have your wand this won't happen anymore, your magic will be focused."

And apparently Seamus remembered, because when they brought him to Diagon Alley for the first time he made a beeline for Ollivander's.

* * *

They were standing at the train station, and Seamus was antsy and jittery as he looked around.

"Take a breath, Seamus," Moira said. "His train's only due in another ten minutes."

It was at her son's insistence that they were here so early, anyways.

"I know I'm just… I'm just really excited to see him," Seamus said. He took a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders. "I miss him during the summers."

Moira smiled. "I know, babe, it was like that for me and my school friends too."

Seamus looked like he was going to say something to disprove her, but simply continued scanning across the train platform, waiting for the train from Dublin to come in.

When it did, a boy Moira recognized from photos as Dean Thomas broke through the crowd accompanied by his stepfather.

A grin broke across Seamus' face, and a crackling sound ripped through the busy sounds of the platform behind Moira. She pivoted and saw that the glass of a vending machine had shattered, and its content had burst into flames.

She turned back to Seamus but he hadn't noticed. He definitely looked excited enough for the blast to be traced back to him, though. He and Dean had dashed through the crowd and hugged. They'd broken apart, but held onto each other's arms as they talked and caught up and gushed.

Between that and the fire that the Muggle security guards were now putting out…

Well, Moira thought that maybe this wasn't like her and her school friends at all.


End file.
